On Thursday, a judge imposed a 25-year prison term on Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, signifying the protracted decline of the former cryptocurrency celebrity.
For orchestrating a colossal fraud, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan also sentenced Samuel Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $11 billion.
Following a one-month trial, Bankman-Fried, 32, of Stanford, California, was previously convicted of the following charges: two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
FTX, a digital asset exchange platform that Bankman-Fried once presided over, experienced a meteoric rise in prominence prior to its demise in 2022. Prior to the scandal, Bankman-Fried enjoyed the company of the wealthy and influential. Bankman-Fried contributed approximately $40 million in public funds during the 2022 election cycle, with the overwhelming majority, $36.8 million, going to Democratic-affiliated organizations, according to OpenSecrets. Those who stole Bankman-Fried’s money rushed to return it following the scandal, as previously reported by The Center Square.
The sentence imposed on Bankman-Fried is among the most lengthy for larceny in the United States.
Co-founder and CEO of WorldCom Bernard Ebbers was granted 25 years, but was released 13 years later due to deteriorating health. A month after his parole, he passed away.
Initially granted 24 years, Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s sentence was subsequently reduced to 14 years. His 12-year sentence was completed in 2019 and he was granted his release.
Investor Bernie Madoff received 150 years in prison for the largest known Ponzi scheme. He passed away in 2021 following nine years of service.
Bankman-Fried founded and served as the CEO of the international cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Federal prosecutors allege that he oversaw and orchestrated a conspiracy to defraud FTX customers of billions of dollars by misappropriating their funds from 2019 to 2022.
Bankman-Fried misappropriated funds from FTX clients for personal gain, including political contributions to candidates and investments worth millions of dollars, as well as to repay loans from Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading fund that he co-founded, amounting to billions of dollars. Prosecutors claim that Bankman-Fried deceived equity investors in FTX and lenders to Alameda by providing them with false and misleading financial information that concealed his misuse of customer deposits.